Automatic fire extinguisher



D. M. BETT.

AUTOMATIC FIRE EXTINGUISHER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 14. [918.

1,41 1,903. Patented Apr. 4, 1922.

flan 6d Mars/1.016136% UNITE s'rar esj i grrur DAVID MARSEA'IJL Bn'rr, or cAULrIELn, vrcronm, aUs'rnALrnf" 0 ric AUTOMATIC FIRE nxrmeulsnnn.

Application filed September 14, 1918. Serial No. 254,115.

T 0 all whom 2'27 may concern:

Be it known that, 1, DAVID BTARSHALL post-office address is Alwyn, Alma Road, 7

in the said city of Caulfie1d,) have invented new and useful Improvements in Automatic Fire Extinguishers, (for which I have filed application in Australia, Sept. 1, 1917,) of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide an improved fire extinguisher which shall at once be simple in design, cheap in construction, easy of attachment, and automatic in action in quenching a fire in its locality immediately a fuse is ignited to explode a small charge of gunpowder or the like, contained in a suitable chamber which operates to release a spray of water.

The invention comprises various details of construction, combination and arrangement of parts which will be hereinafter fully described, shown in the drawings and specifically defined in the appended claim.

Referring to the drawings which form a part of this specification Figure l is a side elevation of the extinguisher.

Figure 2 is a sectional side elevation.

Figure 3 is an end elevation.

Figure 4: is a sectional elevation of the explosive container, fuse tube and coupling.

Figure 5 is a detail view of a sealing plate, and

Figures 6 and 7 are detail parts.

The chamber 1 has internal integral ribs 2 (in this instance four in number) rising from the threaded neck 3, to the dome 4:,which has an external integral bracket 5, forming a central guide 6 for the valve stem 7; the vertical extension of the bracket furnishes a knife edge 8, for the bifurcated end 9, of the locking lever 10.

The lever has angular bearing recesses 11, to engage under the knife edge, and a vertical hole 12, threaded to receive the threaded stem 18, of a locking thumb screw 14, passing through the lever and engaging the recessed head 15, of the valve spindle 7, and the tapered end of the lever has a check stop 16, against which a slotted locking plate 17. abuts when the apparatus is set up. I

The dome i, of the chamber is perforated with several rows of spray holes 18, and an equatorial slot 19, is cut round the dome to supplement the discharge of water in a large c rcular drenchingspray, the four integral ribs 2, supporting the lower and upper halves of the chamber.

The chamber is threaded to connect with a nipple 20, the upper end of which is furnished with a seat 21,. for the valve 22, the

latter being secured to the spindle between a collarv 23, on the stem and a seating disc 24%, of leather'or the like by a lock nut 25; the lower end of the nipple is threaded in the usual way to screw into a T coupling on the water service pipe and is tightened by thev integral nut26. i

On the side of the chamber 1, remote from the upright arm of the bracket 5 is a bifurcated projection 27, which has a bearing 28 on 1ts under side for a knife edge 29, on the extended end 30, of the explosive chamber 31.

The latter chamber has a tubular extension 32, threaded to receive a union nut 33, through which a short length of rapid lightmg fuse 34, is threaded to reach the charge of gunpowder or the like explosive 35, with which the chamber is packed.

The gunpowder is rammed tightly in the chamber and the top sealed with a cork or other disc 36, which is covered with sealing wax 37, and finally coated with black japan or such like material.

011 the outside of the explosive chamber is a holding pin soldered thereto by a solder of low fusibility which will melt at a temperature of about 165 degrees Fahrenheit and on the opposite side of said chamber is an integral lug or pin 39 which catches in a slot 40, in the lower end of the vertical locking plate 17. The latter plate passes through a slot 41, in a horizontal sealing plate l2, and an upper slot 13, engages with the locking lever 10, and is held in check thereon.

The sealing plate 42, is perforated at 44k to receive the slightly bent free end of Specification of Letters Patent. Pat t d A i 4 1922 the holding pin 38, and when the parts are assembled, as shown in Figure 1, the turning of the thumb-screw will seat the valve 22 and look all the parts securely in position ready for action.

In practice the fire extinguishers, with a short length of fuse attached to each, are connected to T-couplings or the like, in the water service pipes at intervals of about thirty feet throughout the building.

Immediatel on the outbreak of fire in the locality 0 an extinguisher the fuse will V108, and will extinguish the fire.

Should-the fuse from any cause become damaged and rendered ineffective the sealing p ate will be released by the melting of the solder of low fusibility with which the holding pin 38, is secured to the side of the explosive chamber, thus providing an additional safeguard.

Instead of using knife edge bearings on the working parts as above described I may employ in each case a pivot pin passing through a hole in the parts concerned.

Having now described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patentisz- An automatic fire extinguisher, comprising a sprayer including a casing and a valve therein, a locking lever arranged above the casing and having free engagement with the casing, an explosion chamber at one side of the casing and having free engagement with the casing, a sealing plate resting loosely upon the upper end of the explosion chamber and adapted to bedisplaced by the explosion within said chamber, a pin con nected to the explosion chamber by a low fusible solder, said pin engaging an opening 111 the sealing plate, a locking plate removably engaging the explosion chamber and one end of the locking lever, and an element having threaded connection with the locking lever and adapted to exert a closing pressure on the valve, the downwardly free connections of the locking lever and explosion chamber with the casing permitting these parts to drop by gravity wholly free of the casing as a result of anexplosion or the separation of the pin through the melting of its solder connection. r

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

DAVID MARSHALL BETT.

\Vitness t CEoIL MCCLASTIER. 

